Discoveries

By Everett Potter If you’re a traveler who’s been just about everywhere, there’s a remarkable new opportunity to explore a country that few have visited. Geographic Expeditions (GeoEx), the esteemed travel company that has pioneered some extraordinary trips around the globe, will begin taking small groups to Southern Iraq in

By Hilary Nangle Misty rain dampened my enthusiasm as I hopscotched puddles between the parking lot to the Roonagh Pier ferry terminal, about 17 miles west of Westport, Ireland. Whitecaps dancing on Clew Bay’s storm-gray waters had me questioning my desire to stay at the Clare Island Lighthouse Inn. Still,

By Catherine Sabino Madonna di Campiglio, a mountain resort in Italy’s Dolomites, has long been a draw for prominent names, attracting Habsburg monarchs (Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth) in the late 19th century, and more recently, digital “royalty,” like the influential blogger/entrepreneur Chiara Ferragni. While Campiglio may not be

By Brian E. Clark When Davis Hansen was growing up in Pasadena, Calif., he earned a small-boat sailing merit badge from the Boy Scouts. And until recently, the 33-year-old said he was interested in learning how to sail a bigger boat. But after his most recent trip, a seven-day outing

By Marian Betancourt Gilded Age tycoons sailed their yachts from Manhattan across the harbor to tie up along the Bay Ridge shore in Brooklyn. This unique part of our city has single-family homes on tree-lined streets with rolling lawns, parks for walking and biking along the shore, a golf course, and

By Ann Abel People tend to talk about Puglia as if it’s just one place—the heel of Italy’s boot, a place of ancient olive trees, whitewashed masserie, the domed little hobbit homes called trulli. It’s a place that celebrates family, slow living, and long lunches under the Adriatic sun. That

By Susan Portnoy To say I was intrigued when I first learned about Kapawi Ecolodge in Ecuador is an understatement. What I heard ticked all the right boxes. Imagine an intimate ten-cabin eco-lodge hidden beneath a canopy of pristine rainforest in a remote region called the Amazon Sacred Headwaters. A

By Brian E. Clark In the 1979 bicycling and coming-of-age movie “Breaking Away,” the star’s father walks with his son around Indiana University in Bloomington and muses about some of the handsome limestone structures he helped build. While some things have changed in Bloomington since that film was made more than 40

By Buzzy Gordon  The European Spa Association (ESPA) recently held its annual congress in Slovakia, in honor of the 100-year jubilee of the Slovak and Czech Republic Spa Association – both countries popular destinations for seeking treatment and pampering in time-venerated spas.  Specifically, the unique spa island of Piestany, in

By Mark Sissons Long before modern celebrity A-listers like George Clooney, Richard Branson, Gianni Versace and Madonna owned posh waterfront villas here, Lago di Como, the jewel in Northern Italy’s crown of glittering mountain lakes, was a popular retreat for Europe’s wealthy and famous. As far back as ancient Roman